Theo

Theo began life as a shortcut. It is a French pet form of Théodore, the sort of thing you use at home when the full version feels like too much ceremony for a small boy with jam on his face. Somewhere along the way, the shortcut simply took over.

And how. Theo is number 8 in New Zealand and number 12 in England and Wales, both as of 2024. Brazil has it at 13, Canada at 17, France at 35, Australia at 36 and Argentina at 48, with Catalonia further back at 136. That is not a quirk of one country's taste. That is a genuinely global agreement, arrived at more or less simultaneously by parents who have never met.

Part of the appeal is the meaning, which is one of the loveliest around: gift of God. Parents who have spent a long time waiting for a particular baby tend to go rather quiet when they read that one. It is a big sentiment delivered in four letters, with none of the solemnity you might expect.

The rest of the appeal is pure engineering. Two syllables, both open, no consonant clusters, nothing to trip over. It works in English, French, Portuguese and Spanish without modification. A toddler can say it. A grandparent can hear it across a noisy room. It fits on a school jumper label and it will not look ridiculous on a business card in 2065, which is roughly the standard every name should be held to.

Theos worth knowing

Theo Walcott, the English association football player, was born in 1989, and Théo Hernandez, the French footballer, in 1997, so the name has a decent showing on a pitch. For balance there is Theo van Doesburg, the Dutch architect, painter, draughtsman and writer, who lived from 1883 to 1931 and offers a rather more contemplative version of the same four letters.

One thing worth deciding early is whether you are naming a Theo or naming a Théodore who will be called Theo. Both are perfectly good plans, and they lead to slightly different lives. The long form gives your child a formal card to play later on, which some people treasure and others never touch. The short form is honest about what everyone was going to call him anyway. There is no wrong answer, only a mild risk of your relatives choosing for you.

On a shortlist it keeps warm, easy company. Leo, Lucas, Chloe and Mila all sit in the same register: soft, short, gently European names that sound modern without straining for it. If those keep surfacing on your list, Theo will not feel like a leap.

The catch, as ever, is the crowd. At number 12 in England and Wales he will meet others, probably in his own class. Then again, most of the truly agonising decisions in this process turn out to be between names that are all, on inspection, rather good.